Le Moulin de la Vierge

Genie, who lives in Mobile, Alabama, but blogs about "Paris and beyond", recently returned to Paris and we made some walks and visits together, including to the Russian Cemetery (see previous post). She had got a "job" from another blogger friend, "Louis La Vache", who used to live in Paris, but now lives in the San Francisco area (his present blog is "San Francisco Bay Daily Photo") to visit a very special "boulangerie" he knew of and had posted about some five years ago, "Le Moulin de la Vierge". Here is a link to the very complete post he made, which means that I hardly have to write anything, except maybe a very short version of what "Louis" then wrote:

This used to be a bakery "since ever", until when in the 70's there was a threat that the whole area would be "remodeled" and the baker decided to leave. The place was taken over by someone, who was not at all a baker, but started to do music buisness. The beautiful bakery decorations were still there, passers-by and neighbours entered looking for bread and finally the occupant, Basil Kamir, thought "why not". After tough fights with authorities he managed to save not only the bakery, but also the building, which now stands quite alone surrounded by modern ones; both the bakery and the building are now officially "classified". ... and, furthermore, with the help by the nephew of the person who in 1893 had modernized the 1850 wooden oven in the cellar, they managed to get it to work again and it now makes the bread they sell.

The bakery looks really as what you would like a bakery to look like and the young lady who sold us some nice traditionally made bread was charming.

Despite the fact that the bakery is situated in a rather isolated area, the buisness seems to work well and there are now two or three other "Le Moulin de la Vierge" shops in Paris.